The Arts Hub: Future heartbeat of East Boulder County arts, culture

New 11,000-square-foot arts center, 194-seat theater should be open by summer

By John Aguilar Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
12/24/2013 07:24:54 PM MST

Updated:
12/24/2013 07:27:19 PM MST

East Boulder County is full of artistic people, and soon they will have a state-of-the-art facility in which to play, create, work, act and express themselves.

The Arts Hub, The Art Underground's 11,000-square-foot community arts center and theater, just broke ground in Louisville's Steel Ranch neighborhood last month. The $2 million facility is scheduled to open this summer.

"I hope to reach out to other east Boulder County arts groups and establish an east Boulder County presence," said Lori Jones, founder and executive director of The Art Underground. "I view it as a whole new chapter for our organization and an opportunity to expand our offerings."

The Art Underground has operated in 3,000 square feet of basement space on Front Street in downtown Louisville for six years, offering dance, theater, film and visual arts classes for all ages.

Jones said the organization has been looking for additional space for quite a while, partly because its two dance rooms, one art room and one multi-purpose room are operating at capacity. The new building will feature two dance rooms, art and music studio rooms, a set shop, other theater support spaces and an outdoor pedestrian plaza with tables, a future playground and flexible space for small outdoor performances.

The organization is also raising money to pay for top-of-the-line lighting and audio equipment at the new location.

The other big advantage of the new building is its 194-seat theater. The Art Underground will no longer have to stage plays at venues in and around Louisville, cart around tons of equipment and props and set up and break down sets in a rush. That is, Jones said, if an available auditorium or theater can even be found at one of the local schools her organization depends on for staging performances.

An artist s rendering of The Arts Hub, a planned 11,000-square-foot community arts center and theater.
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Arts Hub
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"We need a stable venue," Jones said. "So much time and energy is dedicated to getting everything to these auditoriums. Just having our own venue will allow us to focus on production."

The Arts Hub is being built at the entrance to Steel Ranch, on the west side of Colo. 42, north of South Boulder Road. Louisville-based RMCS, which owns the 5-acre site, has agreed to work with The Art Underground to make the project feasible for the nonprofit organization.

Justin McClure, principal with RMCS, said his company is putting in landscaping, building the plaza and adding other outdoor amenities in an effort to make the site an attractive community gathering spot. The Arts Hub will sit among 20,000 to 25,000 square feet of commercial space at the site, which McClure characterized as having a "small town retail" mix.

"It adds a lot of uniqueness to the neighborhood," McClure said of The Arts Hub.

There will be more than 1,000 households within walking distance of the center, if Steel Ranch, the North End and the south end of Lafayette's Indian Peaks development are added together, he said. And that means a vibrant cultural resource for people in the areas to visit and participate in.

"This will be a fantastic amenity for the communities there," McClure said.

Carol Bosshard, president of The Art Underground's board of directors, said The Arts Hub will draw from neighboring communities and provide an outlet for folks that used to have to go to Boulder for high quality exhibitions and performances. She compared the new facility to Boulder's Dairy Center for the Arts in terms of its artistic impact on the community.

"I see it as a great location to connect with Lafayette and Erie," Bosshard said.

She said The Arts Hub will expand its programming to more adults, where the focus is now on youth. And she said that for those willing to be generous with contributions to The Art Underground, there will be naming opportunities at the new building.

The top layer of ground is removed earlier this month from the site of the future The Arts Hub, an 11,000-square-foot community arts center and theater in Louisville set to open to the public next summer.
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CLIFF GRASSMICK
)

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